Entries in Bachelor
(3)

Photo by Joe Corrigan/Getty Images(NEW ORLEANS) -- Gia Allemand, a contestant on the 2010 season of ABC's The Bachelor, is reportedly in critical condition in a New Orleans hospital.

According to a statement from her representative obtained by various media outlets, the 29-year-old Allemand was hospitalized following a "serious emergency medical event," the nature of which has not been disclosed.

The rep said Allemand's mother and boyfriend, basketball player Ryan Anderson of the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans, were by her side.

The star of the 2010 Bachelor season, Jake Pavelka, has tweeted, "Please pray for @GiaAllemand... A dear friend and one of the sweetest women I know... #powerofprayer."

Allemand was the second runner-up on that season. She went on to appear on the first season of Bachelor Pad.

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- The Mormon Bachelor is unlike the show that inspired it. In a way, it's ABC's The Bachelor minus the sex and scandal.

The Mormon Bachelor -- seen on the web -- features speed dating with distinctly Mormon values. The dates have less drama, the conversations more wholesome, but the stakes are just as high. Contestants on the show, now wrapping up its fourth season, are hoping to find a marriage partner.

The star of the show is Chris Barbour, a 26-year-old virgin.

"Mormons don't engage in sexual activities before marriage," he said. "You have the physical kisses and what not but past that, not too much."

The rules of the Church of Latter-Day Saints go way beyond simply refraining from pre-marital sex. The couple also can't smoke or drink alcohol.

"We definitely do have our standards and our guidelines that we go by, that we try to live by, as much as we possibly can," Barbour said.

It's a far cry from the sort of rule-bending on the ABC version. This summer on The Bachelor Pad, a bunch of contestants ended up naked in the pool in the season premiere. That's not likely to happen on the Mormon Bachelor.

"I don't even like to kiss on the first date," Barbour said.

The show's creators, Aubrey Laidlaw and Erin Elton, came up with the idea for the reality series after graduating from Brigham Young University and moving to Southern California. They were frustrated with a dating scene so different from what they had known at BYU, where many of their classmates joked they went for an "MRS degree."

"Our dating practices are so different than the dating practices of mainstream," Elton said. "Holding hands and kissing, which is not very passionate is pretty much all you can do before you're married."

Laidlaw actually auditioned for ABC's The Bachelor, but didn't make it, which is probably just as well, she said.

"I don't know why I was thinking I would do something like that because in reality, I really wanted to marry an LDS guy," Laidlaw said. "But I was so in love with the show. So we came up with the Mormon Bachelorette, and I was cast as the first bachelorette."

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

The first season of the web series was a huge success for Laidlaw. Her handsome prince rode up on his Harley Davidson. Six months later they wed in a temple ceremony and now have a baby girl.

They do get some pressure from viewers to sex up their online series for the sake of ratings.

"We get emails constantly about doing a fantasy suite," Elton said. "Sorry, you're out of luck. Hand-holding and kissing is probably all you're going to see."

When reviewing contestants' audition tapes for the current season, one thing the producers are not casting for is drama. Elton said she is truly trying to find Barbour a wife he can love for all of eternity.

In the Mormon Church, Laidlaw said couples are not just looking for marriage but for "eternal marriage and an eternal family" and there is no "'til death do us part."

"That means to be married in the house of the Lord, one of the temples, for time and all eternity," she said.

Another reason for making the show, producers said, was to help clear up public misconceptions about Mormons, although Laidlaw admitted that "the majority of our viewers are LDS."

Popular TV shows such as Big Love or Sister Wives -- that focus on LDS splinter groups -- have highlighted the fact that Mormonism once allowed polygamy, a practice the church has not condoned for more than a century.

The show's creators said they are often asked why the Mormon Bachelor even needs to make a choice among the prospective brides. But the fact is, he only wants one wife.

"We don't practice polygamy," Barbour said. "That's not us."

Barbour has yet to find his eternal partner -- at least until the season finale. But the show's executive producer said she finally has. Erin Elton, 32, plans to get married in the Mormon Temple this weekend.

ABC/MATT KLITSCHER(LOS ANGELES) -- The man who was dumped by The Bachelorette star Ashley Hebert on the season finale of the ABC series this summer may receive a second chance at TV love. Us Weekly reports Ben Flajnik, a California winemaker, will star on the 2012 season of The Bachelor.

Ashley chose J.P. Rosenbaum over Ben in The Bachelorette season finale. Ben reportedly went on a date with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt earlier this month.

A rep for The Bachelor would only tell People magazine that an announcement regarding the next "Bachelor" will be made during the Bachelor Pad season finale on September 12.